[WP8.1] Windows 10.0.10581.11 TextBox focus weirdness on phone

Question

In Visual Studio 2015:

Create a new Windows->Windows 8->Windows Phone->'Blank App (Windows Phone)'.

Insert the following xaml in MainPage.xaml:

	<Grid>
		<StackPanel >
			<TextBox />
			<TextBox />
		</StackPanel>
	</Grid>

Run the app.

Click on the first TextBox. The TextBox will get the focus, the keyboard will show up and the cursor will blink as expected.

Click on the second one and it will jump to the second one as expected.

Now - Long press the back-key or press the start button to suspend the app.

Go back inside the app without restarting it and tap on the text boxes.

The cursor stops blinking and when trying to focus on a specific textbox it will only work to type in one of them.

You can also try the following:

	<Grid>
		<TextBox />
	</Grid>

Start the app then suspend.

Go back again without restarting the app and you'll notice that the cursor doesn't blink.

This seems to only affect WP8.1 windows phone apps. But I have to say that I've observed some weirdness too in a clean Windows 10 Universal phone app where I suspend and it has a textbox. Something happens in the OS if I am in the app list after I suspend the app. The keyboard pops up for a second then goes down again, suspect that it has something to do with the search box that is at the top in the app list. Just to be more clear, the app list is the list when swiping away from the tiles.

Let me know if the MS OS-team can reproduce this.

Thanks!

Answer 1

Hi Luc Codewalker,

Welcome to the Developing Universal Windows apps forum!

I do not have the Windows 10.0.10581.0 for me to test now, so I have tested on my Windows 10.0.10124.0, I can not reproduce this issue in my side. I will try to find one and test for it. Could you please tell me if you can reproduce this issue in both the Windows Phone 8.1 emulator and device? Besides, it will be better you can try to post a screenshot or screen capture video to help analyze this issue more easier.

Best Regards,
Amy Peng

 

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Answer 2

Hi Amy,

Sorry can't use the emulators here on my laptop. Can only test this from my phone (WP8.1).

Wow, you work with Microsoft and you're still on 10.0.10124.0?? Isn't it time for you to upgrade your tools?

Let me know how it goes. Thanks Amy!

Answer 3

Hi Luc,

I am very sorry for the late reply.

I have tested in my Windows mobile [phone] and I can reproduce this issue in my side. I will try to report it to the Microsoft using the internal channel. Besides, thank you very much for reporting this issue.

Best Regards,
Amy Peng

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Answer 4

Thanks Amy!

Answer 5

Same problem for me. WP8.1 RT app tested on Windows 10 Mobile.

Answer 6

I have the same issue on a WINRT app on Windows Phone 10. Within the emulators the issue doesn't appear. It has given me big headaches until I finally saw this post which exactly describes the issue I see

Answer 7

There is a huge problem with the latest build of Windows 10 Mobile, 10.0.10586.11. When you run a Windows Phone 8.1 app on it, TextBox becomes unusable at some point.

To reproduce a problem, simply create a blank app project for Windows Phone 8.1 and make your MainPage's Grid look like this:

<Grid>
  <Grid.RowDefinitions>
    <RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
    <RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
    <RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
  </Grid.RowDefinitions>
  <TextBox Grid.Row="0"
           PlaceholderText="Last Name" />
  <TextBox Grid.Row="1"
           PlaceholderText="First Name" />
  <TextBox Grid.Row="2"
           PlaceholderText="Middle Name" />
</Grid>

Now launch the app and press Windows button on the phone to go back to Start screen. Now return to the app and move between the TextBoxes.

You will notice that there is no caret inside the TextBoxes. Also, when you move to the next TextBox, the previous one will remain at focused state. And last and the best: when you come to the last one ("Middle Name"), any input on that page will now go to this TextBox. Moreover, this bug will affect all the TextBoxes in the app, and this bug also appears if MessageDialog or any other ContentDialog is shown.

This bug is a showstopper. I thought it was because of some discrepancies in TextBox styles, but the experiment showed that this is not the case.

I wonder if there is any workaround to make this work as expected, because otherwise we will need a way to disable installation of our apps on Windows 10 Mobile for a while.

Answer 8

Hi Sgt-Riggs,

Here's another thread about the exact same problem. I really hope they solve it very soon.

https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsapps/en-US/d3f4efca-b356-4d74-87b7-2ee7d5e3b495/wp81-windows-100105810-textbox-focus-weirdness-on-phone?forum=wpdevelop

Answer 9

I have the exact same issue on Windows 10 Mobile build 10586.11. Isn't this a build that comes preinstalled on new Lumia "flagships", like 950 and 950 XL? I wonder how you are going to solve this since even small updates for Windows Phone usually take up to half a year to get on phones.

Answer 10

Hi Luc,

Thanks for the link. Though I suggest you to unmark Amy's post as answer because if you don't, they will never come back to your thread.

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Isn't 10586.11 a build that comes preinstalled on new Lumia "flagships", like 950 and 950 XL? I wonder how they are going to solve this since even small updates for Windows Phone usually take up to half a year to get on phones.

Actually I think this should be fixed as fast as possible, because this affects absolutely ALL Windows Runtime 8.1 apps in Windows Phone Store. This should be fixed before the newly fledged happy Lumia 950 users understood that they've paid a pretty tangible amount of money just to become beta testers.

Answer 11

Hey Luc,

I suggest you to unmark Amy's post as answer because the problem isn't solved in the semi-release build 10586.11. Because if you don't do that, they will never look into this thread.

Answer 12

Yeah you've absolutely right! Really bad idea by me marking it. I'm unmarking it.

IMO they just need to solve it as quickly as possible.
I've also noticed that keyboard focus problems making the keyboard going haywire even outside 3rd party apps like the search on the app vertical list. They just need to fix this ASAP.

Answer 13

Thanks Sgt-Riggs! I unmarked it.

Amy, have you 'tried' to report this serious matter to them? Any replies? Maybe the Microsoft dev-team can jump in here and report a little how it goes with this bug.

Answer 14

Windows 10 Mobile will be updated in a different way than WP 8.1. It should be something like iOS-style updating.

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Answer 15

Hi all,

I've reproduced the problem and filed a bug on this for consideration in a future update. Until the fix is publically available we can't say when that will be.

Please don't play shenanigans to try to draw attention to the problem: whether this thread is marked or unmarked as answered will not affect when or how the bug is fixed, nor will marking responses as abusive because the bug hasn't been fixed yet.

What will ensure that the bug is filed is to file it yourself with the Windows Feedback app and/or vote up existing reports there.

If you want a more hands-on approach beyond the scope of the forum you can open a support incident at http://aka.ms/storesupport and choose Windows 8.x app development. We can work with you to try to find a workaround if you cannot wait for the bug to be fixed. Support incident charges will be refunded if they are caused by a Microsoft bug.

--Rob

Answer 16

Hi @ivan.icin,

I believe it when I see it. As far as I remember they promised to deliver updates directly when they launched Windows Phone 8.1, and still there was WP 8.1 Update 1 that I'm not even sure has rolled out to all phones yet, and Update 2 that never became available to a majority of Windows phones.

Answer 17

Hi all,

Seems like this bug was fixed in build 10586.29.

Answer 18

Seems to be fixed in the 10586.29 OS update.

Just a small issue, think it's affecting all apps.

Try this:

- From the start menu swipe to the app list.

- Launch Microsoft Outlook Calendar.

- Click '+' then enter something in the subject.

- Without clicking the save button press the back-button until you exit the calendar completely and you get back to the app list.

Result:

The keyboard pops up and the search app textbox is focused.

Just a little bug.